They wanted to sell these firearms to criminal elements in the city. A probe revealed that they were also planning to eliminate a person who had allegedly murdered their aide.

THE CRIME branch of Pune city police have arrested three wanted accused and recovered four country-made pistols and 10 live cartridges, all worth Rs 2,01,000 from their possession. Police have identified the accused as Rohan alias Dudhya Subhash Chavan (29) of Somwar Peth, Atul Prabhakar Nade (30) of Bhavani Peth and Ganesh Dnyaneshwar Bhalerao (33) of Dandekar bridge.

Watch What Else is Making News

Acting on a tip-off to assistant sub inspector Sambhaji Bhoite, a crime branch team led by senior inspector Vishwasraje Thorat laid a trap and nabbed the three persons near Daruwala bridge in Somwar Peth on Friday.

Police said they recovered two pistols and six cartridges were recovered from Rohan, a pistol and two cartridges from Atul and a pistol and two cartridges were from Ganesh.

Police added that all three are history-sheeters with links to “land mafia” in the city and that they have been involved in land-grabbing activities. They brought the firearms from Ravindrasinh Chavala, an illegal firearms trader operating from Umarti village on the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

They wanted to sell these firearms to criminal elements in the city. A probe revealed that they were also planning to eliminate a person who had allegedly murdered their aide.

This person, the police say, is a gangster working for a political party and has committed serious crimes like murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping of a judge in the past.

Police said that Rohad has earlier been involved in 24 serious crimes like attempt to murder and robbery. He was also arrested by the Madhya Pradesh police in connection with the illegal firearms trade. Atul has previously been booked in seven crimes and was also externed from city limits for two years. Ganesh Bhalerao was earlier arrested in a murder case.